Geee(rman) Whizz

Who wants to stay at home when there are so many great adventures to be had, just a short flight away.

End of September I honoured my birthday presents of 5 years ago and this year and got treated by Manu and Kathrin to a trip to the Europapark Rust.

We left Frankfurt on Sunday morning at 6:30, these early mornings seem to become a habit, but certainly not one I particularly enjoy. Thankfully the Autobahn was nice and empty and the stretch down towards Baden Baden and Freiburg doesn't have too many speed restrictions, so Manu could put her foot down and her little BMW cruised (sped) nicely at 200 km/h.

whoopee, Rust, here we come...






Upon arrival in Rust we checked into the "Colosseo" Hotel, a huge Italian style complex, and left the bags there. The hotel has a great courtyard, shaped like an amphitheatre and lit beautifully at night. The room was a family room with a double bed and two bunk beds with Leonardo da Vinci style murals and a bright, clean bathroom.

Well, the park itself had just opened (after ll, it was only 9:00) and the first thing we did was looking for a place to have a coffee and breakfast, which we did at the "Kaffi Hus" in the Iceland section, facing the Blue Fire Megacoaster. This wet our appetite for the thrill of fast and crazy rides and we worked out way through the park all day long, possibly managing 60-70% of all rides, including slow kiddy's ones.

Most memorable are:

- Silver Star: a roller coaster with a high speed of 130 km/h (that's usually the speed limit on German motorways), length of 1.6 km, height of 73 m and enormous centrifugal forces of up to 4 G, this ride surely makes your palms sweat and stomach twist

- Blue Fire Megacoaster: a roller coaster that catapults you from 1 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and then sports a 32 m high loop, three 360 rolls and a few more twists and turns on a 1056 m long track
- Eurosat: a roller coaster in the dark, not knowing what to expect makes it all the more exciting
Also great fun are the water-rides and the Swiss bob-run.


The whole park is built with great attention to detail and every country section lets you imagine you're actually travelling Europe without having to show you passport and lengthy train or plane rides. The food is good, diversified and surprisingly not overpriced and staff is really friendly and helpful, yet not over the top cheesy as American theme park personnel can appear.
At the moment there are hundreds of thousands of pumpkins decoreated all over, even the Eurosat globe is covered in orange sheeting, making it Europe's largest pumpkin.


When the rides closed at around 18:30 we went back to the hotel to freshen up and change for dinner, which we decided to have at the hotel next door, directly adjacent to the park, the Spanish themed "El Andaluz". There as well the food was delicious and reasonably priced and we felt like we could not move afterwards, just about managing the 5 minute walk back to our hotel's penthouse bar for a nightcap.


Monday morning at breakfast (a huge varied buffet) we met the Euromaus, the park's mascot. Does anybody know why a mouse seems to be the leading character for fun-/theme-parks? After packing our bags we went into the park again, hotel guests have early access from 8:30 already. This gave us another opportunity to go on the Silver Star and Blue Fire once more and sample some more rides. All in all I suppose we managed to try 90% of all rides/attractions.

We left about 13:30, heading back to Frankfurt, in order for me to catch the 18:00 flight back to London City airport.



It was such a fun-tastic weekend, a wonderful birthday present and well worth the 5 year wait, otherwise we would have missed out on the Blue Fire coaster, which only opened this year.

Thank you, Manu and Kathrin, so much for this present, and your time and continuous great ideas. I appreciate and value our friendship very much. Vielen lieben Dank!

Bella Roma, September 2009

Mid September I flew to Rome for a long weekend, foremost for Laura & Michele's wedding in Abruzzo but also to meet up with my friends from the Rome office whom I had met last year when I supported them while a colleague was out on long term sick leave.

Because my flight left London's Heathrow at 9:00 and I live in London's East I had to get up at the crack of dawn at 5:00 on Friday morning in order to leave the house 5:45 to allow for enough time for London transport's regular morning delays. Those of you regularly travelling on London's public transport understand what I mean.

British Airways didn't let me down and we got to Rome on time. Already at Fiumicino airport you get the sense of Italian craziness: people talking very loudly and animatedly, baggage belts being loaded really slowly, a muggy claustrophobic arrivals hall, mediocre signage and train ticket machines being dismantled, therefore long queues at the ticket counters.

Still, Rome oozes charm and historic glamour and one immediately falls in love with the 'Eternal City'. Have you seen William Wyler's "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck? I think this movie gives a great impression of this beautiful city, even though it's from 1953 and filmed in black and white, it perfectly captures Rome's essence and still feels current.

From Termini (Rome's main train station) I walked to the office which is beautifully located at Piazza di Spagna, right next to the Spanish Steps, to drop my bags and sample some tasty strong Italian caffè (it's an espresso for us Northern Europeans). I then went off idly wandering through the streets and alleys of sunny Rome and naturally I had to have some ice cream, so I went to 'Giolitti', a gelateria founded in 1900 and oh so very famous for their ice cream. There are about 40 different flavours and Giolitti is so popular with both Romans and tourists that one actually has to fight one's way to the counter. If you're ever in Rome, do go to Via Uffici del Vicario, 40 and see and taste it for yourself.

However, this was only the start of my culinary weekend in Italy. In the evening Nadia took me to a lovely restaurant in Riano, where she lives. There we enjoyed a wonderful selection of starters and the best pizza I have ever had in my life so far, followed by a gorgeous homemade panna cotta. My, had this been my last supper, I would have died an extremely happy (and very filled up) girl.

Saturday morning Nadia took me to Laura's house where everyone met and we all drove to the church in Abruzzo (a 2 hour drive from Rome) together. The Roman catholic ceremony in Italian, with a small part in Spanish, lasted a good 90 minutes and felt like an eternity for someone not speaking Italian and only beginner's knowledge of Spanish. Also, being protestant (evangelisch reformiert in Germany) I am painfully unfamiliar with the catholic ordinance of standing, sitting, praying silently or speaking up, I just copied what everyone around me was doing and quietly mumbled along. Fortunately the Lord's prayer has the same rhythm in all languages, so I could just pray that in German. It's amazing how one doesn't seem to ever forget this prayer. The church -Abbazia Santa Maria di Ronzano- dates back to 1181 (that's the year that Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, was born).

The reception was then held at "Country Club Villa Nerina" in Miano with lots and lots of gorgeous Italian delicacies and then some more, followed by dance and the couple's dip into the club's pool. Yes, the bride went in still dressed in her wedding gown, only the tulle underskirts removed.

Sunday afternoon, back in Rome, Nadia and I chilled out and in the evening went out with some of Nadia's friends to have Aperitivi at "Gusto" in central Rome. A bargain at €9 for a cocktail and a buffet full of various kinds of antipasti, salads, breads etc. It was a great fun-filled evening with lots of banter and laughter.

Unfortunately on Monday it was time again to pack my bags and bid a very fond farewell to Rome, my Italian friends and feasting on delicious meals. But, not before I met a few Roman colleagues for lunch at 'La Boccaccia' and home-made chocolate birthday cake in the office afterwards.

Unlike my very first visit to Rome almost 4 years ago, this time I didn't toss a coin into the Fontana di Trevi, because I am very certain that I will return to Roma - La città eterna.

Proms in the Park 2009

Yesterday, Saturday 12th Sep, was the Last Night of the 2009 Proms season and I went to the Proms in the Park in London's Hyde Park with a few friends.

After a lengthy wait in the crowd to get through the entrance gates for ticket checks we determinedly made our way all the way to the front, just right of the right screen (trust the German to know her way, teehee) and got comfortable laying out our picnic blankets and setting up the delicious food. I suppose we could have stayed there overnight until the ABBA tribute concert on Sunday and still have leftovers. On offer were pasta- and couscous-salads, red orange and yellow peppers, carrots, cucumber and celery with either sour cream & chives or hummus, quail's eggs, red and green grapes, strawberries, 8 different kinds of cheeses, Italian meat antipasti and turkey meatballs, crackers, bread, 3 different kinds of HARIBO wine gums, Cadbury's Roses, Bahlsen's Schoko-Leibniz, peanuts, pretzels, crisps, banana cake, apple crumble slices, water, juices and of course wine for the grown ups. Wow, even just trying to remember listing all this is hard work, no wonder David winced when he picked up the bag containing everything that didn't have to be in the cooler bag.
First act up was Rolling Stones cover band 'The Counterfeit Stones', of which the "Mick Jagger" was more of an Alice Cooper lookalike and the whole act seemed like a Rolling Stones spoof, not a tribute.
Next we were treated to some nice and easy to listen to Motown by 'The Emperors of Soul', so that was a step up from the opening act already.
But the third band to come on beat it all! It was 'Gary Mullen and The Works', a 'Queen' cover band and it was amazing to see Gery Mullen impersonating Freddie Mercury so well, his voice sounding exactly like Freddie's, the moves, the look, the charisma, a striking resemblance to the late Freddie Mercury. Almost the whole crowd of 40,000 people (hear hear!) was on their feet, singing and dancing along.
After this was a short interval with more music by the BBC Concert Orchestra, before the main, classical show started and the women all madly rushed to the facilities, for which I would like to say a very big Thank You to the BBC (proper containers with real flushable toilets and running water, only towards the end of the night the paper and towels were running out).
Finally, Sir Terry Wogan came onto the stage to present the main show and after some of his trade-mark banter he announced the first artist, Gardar Thor Cortes, an Icelandic Tenor, followed by the lovely and stunning Welsh mezzo soprano Katherine Jenkins.
Then we were treated to the violin quartet 'Escala' who were discovered in 2008 through Britain's Got Talent, before, at long last, we could welcome on stage special guest Barry Manilow.
He really had us going with Copa Capana, such a Las Vegas style classic!
Of course we were then all connected with the Royal Albert Hall and different Proms in the Parks all over the UK. After Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks it was time for some trusted classical sing-alongs: Rule Britannia! (which I changed to Rule Germania! of course), Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance.
During the British National Anthem we packed up all our belongings, enjoyed the little firework display and made our way out of the park to the tube station to join the other concert goers on the crowded platforms and trains, and that was actually Bond Street station, I can't begin to imagine how busy Marble Arch must have been. Over to the City, up and out at Bank, since we blessedly had parked the car in the underground car park at work, then whizzing home in David's sleek MG.

We have had such a amazing afternoon and evening with great entertainment. Thank you very much, BBC, for staging another wonderful Last Night and Proms in the Park. I am already looking forward to next year and am eager to find out which artists you will be inviting to perform then.
RULE GERMANIA!

GAP 1969 pop-up store

Do you know the feeling when you go someplace and expect something grand and exciting or at least entertaining? But then are totally underwhelmed and utterly disappointed?
Well, that's exactly what happened to me last night when I went to the much hyped GAP 1969 pop-up store in Kingley Court, a great location off London's Carnaby Street, marking GAP's 40th anniversary.
The shop is really small, split into 3 level, of which only 2 show the clothes. This also making navigation between stairs and tables with the displayed goods more difficult and crowded. Instead of clothes that could wow you there were jeans unlovingly put up on meat hooks onto metal drain-pipe rails and shapeless t-shirt in lacklustre colours, the much anticipated denim boots created in connection with Pierre Hardy are just chunky retro ankle boots you could probably get in any 2nd hand store.
There were girls serving beer by the bottle and caipirinha and apparently VV Brown was going to play as well, but I left feeling very dissatisfied, bored and let down and I usually like GAP clothing and find their TV ads interesting and great fun. This however was an uninspiring and disappointing experience :-(

Nike - Let Yourself Out

Hey, just back home from another fun Nike - Let yourself out event.
This was the last of the 3 sessions, a Total Workout on the rooftop of the NCP car park Bowling Green in Clerkenwell. I met up with lovely Lina and Eileen again, who I met at the very first of these nike events, the Martial Arts Workout in the courtyard of the Victoria & Albert museum. Nike really chose some very unsual and cool venues.
This Total Workout was like the circuit class I regularly attend at my gym and was a quite challenging one at that. All outside, on the top deck of the carpark, with beautiful views over the rooftops of London, we even got awarded with a rainbow just when we got going. Try skipping up a ramp and jogging down for 2 minutes, then immidiately after this station try running up the next ramp at full speed and again jogging down, again for 2 minutes. Oh my, 120 seconds can feel like an eternity.
Lina, Eileen and I are not quite the Trio Infernale, but surely the Trio Internationale: Lina from Sweden, Eileen from Australia and me from Germany. We even got interviewed by the Nike guys and you might be able to spot us in the next clip on Nike Women's website, keep your eyes peeled.
Okay, I have just rewarded myself with a Solero Strawberry Smoothie and am now heading for the shower and then bed. Have to be really quiet as my flatmate had already been in bed with her lights out when I got home at only 21:30.

just me

well, what can I say...
we've been talking crazy at lunchtime. And after seeing Julie & Julia last night I decided to start a little blog myself. This one will be about my life, my travels, events I go to and thoughts in general.
I'm going to the Nike Let Yourself Out Total Workout event tonight, have already been to the first two sessions (Martial Arts and Dance Workout) and am really looking forward to what Nike are throwing at us tonight.
check out Nike Women's website here http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikewomen/en_GB/